Monday, December 17, 2012

A message from Gary Bates the CEO of Creation Ministries International USA about the Question Evolution! Campaign and the year 2012

I received an email recently because I am signed up with Creation Ministries International's email newsletter called INFObytes. You can sign up for INFobytes free at: INFObytes signup

The email contained information about the Question Evolution! Campaign and its effect in 2012 so far as far as the dissemination of the 15 questions for evolutionists. The email was written by Gary Bates the CEO of Creation Ministries International (CMI) - USA. We have a copy of that email below.

In addition, our Question Evolution! group will soon have some major news to announce in December of 2012 as far as our efforts and our continued efforts in 2013.

Why will we increase our reach substantially in 2013? There are two major reasons.

Two reasons why our efforts will increase in 2013

1. We have the momentum and now is the time to increase our efforts and not diminish them. Global creationism is increasing in adherents and creationism in many developed countries such as the United States, the UK and France is growing as well. In addition, belief in biblical creation is exploding in China and Latin America.

Evolutionists, you have to come out of your cabin sometime. And when you do, expect to be mauled by the 15 questions for evolutionists. We are going to tear into evolutionary nonsense with our 15 questions for evolutionists claws without ceasing in 2013.

Gary Bates CEO of CMI-US on effects of the Question Evolution! Campaign in 2012

A message from Gary Bates, CEO.As in the previous years I have written to you, I am pleased to say that the number of churches and individuals reached through direct CMI ministry increased yet again. This year, our team made 1,200 presentations globally, and 320 of those events were right here in the USA.
But this increase in events is multiplied many times over when you consider CMI’s distinctive: to train and equip the believer with answers so they can reach others. The heart of our ministry isn’t to merely speak to as many believers as we are able, but to give them the confidence and tools to reach their families, friends, coworkers, etc, exponentially increasing our reach. Simply, equipping believers works! It encourages and motivates them to not only be confident about what they believe, but it emboldens them to reach others.
Due to the depth of our scientists and other qualified staff, CMI has demonstrated the ability to respond quickly to the claims of evolutionists and even other organizations who compromise God’s Word by attempting to reconcile evolution and/or millions of years with the Bible. For example, Peter D. contacted us to say:

I remember at the time I was clinging to some of [progressive creationist and big bang advocate] Dr Hugh Ross’ work. Within a few weeks I’d consumed dozens of hours of CMI material, and, if I may say so, I’ve never looked back—a far more coherent, robust and energized faith has resulted. Thank you CMI!

And this method even reaches academics. Dr. June R. wrote:

I would like to record my sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you at CMI. At the age of thirteen I was a convinced (but very ignorant) atheist, having been influenced by the science lessons received at secondary school … to believe that the earth was extremely old (because of the rock layers) and that evolution accounted for the diverse forms of life on earth (because of the fossils in the rocks); and following on this, evolution. … Since then I have devoured Creation magazine and book after book from your ministry … and visit and profit from your website every day. … What a relief it has been to accept the whole Bible as absolutely true. Thank you again, all of you. I honor you.

And Victor B. said:

Many thanks to CMI’s ministry in empowering and providing the insight, resources and example in being “Soldiers for Christ.

A new group of fans … not! However, this year brought in lots of unprecedented comments from an unexpected area. You might recall that our theme this year, Question Evolution!, was spearheaded by a simple tract called 15 Questions for Evolutionists. Well, in reality it wasn’t that ‘simple’. The questions were
very well-thought-out objections—in fact, challenges that we felt evolutionary theory had no answer for. It was compiled by our staff biologists (an area where CMI is particularly strong) and the idea was to have something easy for our supporters to distribute. And you certainly stepped up to the plate. It went viral and many other solid ministries backed the campaign.

It didn’t take long before the hornet’s nest was stirred,but this year a significant group has been newly reached.

The internet started to buzz with angry evolutionists. The reaction was vehement on occasions. Many were just aghast that anyone could even have the audacity to question a beloved theory that they believed had so much scientific evidence to support it. YouTube videos and blogs started to ‘spontaneously generate’, almost like evolution theory itself, all with the aim of disproving CMI’s 15 Questions claims. We received countless emails (including many angry ones—some filled with profanities) from individuals claiming they could answer the questions. Some were rational, but many were not. Our responses to their ‘non-answers’ led to three more pages of ‘answers’ on CREATION.com, which only further demonstrated the bankruptcy of their belief system and that the majority had just swallowed everything they had ever been taught without question.
I can honestly say that dealing with such responses time and again, with an attitude of gentleness and respect, is very taxing not only in terms of time and resources, but also emotionally. However, it is also immensely encouraging. One never tries to take it personally, and as the CEO, one often feels protective of fellow staff under your watch. Of course, many of us have walked the same road as these misguided souls, being former evolutionists ourselves. Many of these protagonists, up until this time, had never heard a reasonable defense of why Creation and design might actually be true.

After all, this is the point of CMI ministry. Most people believe evolution to be true, but actually don’t know that much about it. That’s changed for many now!

CMI now on the radarSo, we are now squarely in the sights of many evolutionists. The more we penetrate, the more active the opposition becomes. There has been an increased level of interaction with skeptics who are constantly sending us correspondence in an effort to show how the Bible is wrong. They have even threatened to disrupt our meetings—in churches! But I repeat, this means that they are hearing creation answers for the first time, and for this, we are thankful. As Leon B. astutely observed when he wrote:

Thanks to CMI for bringing a little more truth to the minds of those who continue to refuse our Messiah’s sacrifice for them.

This also means that there is more we need to do! At the same time, Question Evolution! also netted many agnostic type seekers who have genuine questions, or just misguided beliefs about what creationists really believe and what the Bible actually says. So, where do we go from here?

We are not concentrating on what has already been achieved, but are looking forward.

If a simple tract with solid information can create such a focus on the issue of origins and challenge people’s long held paradigms, think how much more a book of the same ilk could do. And what if it was coupled with a powerful documentary of the same quality as our much acclaimed Darwin: The Voyage that Shook the World? Well, it’s on the way. The book has been written. Each chapter has been authored by credentialed Ph.D. scientists who gained their degrees in the very same secular universities as their evolutionary counterparts. Moreover, the airfares have been booked for our in-house audiovisual staff to travel ‘downunder’ to Australia to commence filming the documentary.
Please understand that at this stage we want to keep our light ‘under a bushel’ just for a moment. We are being watched, and no doubt even mentioning the project in this letter will cause the opposition to mount even before the first word has been published. We don’t want to give the opposition advance opportunity to undermine the information, and close people’s minds.
However, stay tuned for our January CMI Prayer News when the details will be revealed.

We are super excited and can vouch in advance that the book and DVD will be unique—nothing like it has ever been produced before! We think you’ll be excited too.

Truly a step of faith
Because of the need for relative secrecy, we have not been able to bring this project before you until it was well advanced. As such, in the short term, we have taken a step of faith and used seed money from our general funds, which supports our day to day ministry—our outreach to churches and our internet campaign/question answering etc. We cannot cut back on core ministry. So as you decide about your end of year giving, please consider supporting our efforts. We include testimonies in our letters simply to show you the effectiveness of using biblical creation to reach people. Like Gerrit V. who wrote to thank us for our resources. He said:

Thank you again for your ministry, I was an atheist and stopped believing in evolution before I became a Christian. This was key to me accepting Christ …

If you have never given before, please consider even a small amount every month. It might sound clichéd but the reality is, if every family/person reading this letter just undertook a small monthly commitment it would make a massive difference.
And to those who already support us on a regular basis, thank you so much. Would you please consider a special end of year gift that will enable the ministry you support, to not only continue, but to start 2013 at full steam as we endeavor to finalize our exciting new book and DVD project?
In anticipation of your gift, we would like to offer you some free gifts. You can use the enclosed response slip to do so.
Thank you so much for partnering with us
Gary Bates
CEOCreation Ministries International—(US)